Elections 98

State:	Rajasthan
Constituency:	Kota
Total Votes Polled:	744645
Winner: INC	Ram Narain Meena	364183
Runner Up: BJP	Raghuveer Singh Kaushal	346755
Margin: 17428 (5%)

Elections 96

State:	Rajasthan
Constituency:	Kota
Total Votes Polled:	526810
Winner: BJP	Dau Dayal Joshi	237673
Runner Up: INC	Ram Narayan Meena	236988
Margin: 685 (0.13%)

Out of the 11 elections till 1996, the Congress has been elected only twice, which should explain this constituency's loyalties. The Jan Sangh, the BJP's earlier avatar, has always had a strong presence here, winning three consecutive elections since 1962. After 1957, the only other time the Congress was elected was in 1984 in the face of the Rajiv wave, the seat turning to the BJP's Dau Dayal Joshi in all the three elections since then. In 1996 Joshi retained the seat by what was perhaps the narrowest margin, 685 votes.